Iraq - AL-MONITOR: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

Iran cover image

Iraq

July 17, 2026

Baghdad 4:44 am

34°C

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi meets with US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office at the White House, Washington, DC, July 14, 2026.

Trump hosts Iraqi PM Zaidi as Iran war intensifies

President Donald Trump emphasized Iraq’s “tremendous oil reserves” and possible deals with US companies.

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi at a Council of Ministers meeting in Baghdad on July 11, 2026.

Analysis

On first foreign trip, Iraqi PM Zaidi woos Trump but Iran casts long shadow

Iraq's new prime minister is in Washington promising business deals and closer ties with the United States, but convincing the Trump administration he can rein in Iran-backed militias may prove his toughest challenge.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Latest News

Analysis

Can a UAE-backed Syria-Iraq corridor become Gulf's next trade route?

An aerial view shows port of the western Syrian port city of Latakia, on Dec. 18, 2024.

In Bristol, reporting on regional business, climate change, AI, tech

Here's what to know about Iraq's corruption as Zaidi launches crackdown

AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

Iraqi PM’s anti-corruption drive comes as US pressure mounts on Iran-backed militias

aqi security personnel patrol in a vehicle along a street in Baghdad on June 28, 2026.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Amberin Zaman

Chief Correspondent

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Jared Szuba

Defense and Security Correspondent

In Washington, DC, reporting on defense, national security, military

Beatrice Farhat

Associate Editor (Lebanon)

In Beirut, reporting on regional news, culture, conflict

Suadad al-Salhy

In Baghdad, reporting on politics and security

Lyse Mauvais

In Amman, reporting on humanitarian crises

Winthrop Rodgers

In Sulaymaniyah, reporting on Kurdish issues

Kurdish peshmerga take part in a training session during German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen's visit at a camp in Banslawa in Arbil, north of Baghdad, October 27, 2015. German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen said that the government will look into sending more weapons to Peshmerga fighting Islamic State in Iraq. Von der Leyen has been in Iraq since late, she also paid a visit to a camp in Banslawa where German soldiers are currently training around 30 young Kurdish fighters. REUTERS/Azad lash

House panel approves peshmerga bill that Baghdad deems 'unwise and unnecessary'

The House Foreign Affairs panel voted to directly arm Kurdish forces.

Turkish soldiers in a tank and an armored vehicle patrol on the road to the town of Beytussebab in the southeastern Sirnak province, Turkey, September 28, 2015. Five children were wounded on Monday when a bomb tore through a street in the Turkish city of Diyarbakir, hospital officials said, where deadly clashes in recent weeks have followed the collapse of ceasefire by Kurdish militants. A separate blast in the town of Tatvan wounded five soldiers when their vehicle passed over an explosive left in a ditch

Ankara's Mosul miscalculation

Even Turkmens are unhappy with Turkey’s moves in Mosul, and Ankara may have made a serious misjudgment.

Shi'ite fighters, known as Hashid Shaabi, clash with Islamic State militants, as one tries to put a Shi'ite flag in the ground, in northern Tikrit, March 12, 2015. Iraqi security forces and mainly Shi'ite militia fought Islamic State fighters in Tikrit on Thursday, a day after they pushed into Saddam Hussein's home city in their biggest offensive yet against the militants. Picture taken March 12, 2015. REUTERS/Stringer (IRAQ - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT) - RTR4T6WJ

Iraq's war of flags

A struggle over flags has emerged in Iraq, where the various forces fighting the Islamic State seek to promote their own identities and are desecrating the symbols of rival groups.

Iraqi security forces stand guard with their military vehicle outside the Turkish embassy in Baghdad December 8 2015. REUTERS/Khalid al-Mousily - RTX1XPHA

Why is Turkey stirring the Iraqi cauldron?

The wisdom and real motives of Turkey dispatching troops to northern Iraq is a topic of hot debate.

Kurdish peshmerga forces stand in the street after Yazidi people loot houses in the town of Sinjar, Iraq November 16, 2015. Before it was overrun by Islamic State, Sinjar and the surrounding villages were home to about 200,000 people, mainly Kurdish and Arab Muslims - both Sunni and Shi'ite - as well as Christians and Yazidis, a faith that combines elements of several ancient Middle Eastern religions. Now the town is largely deserted. But in a row of houses used by Islamic State fighters, there were signs o

Arab-Kurd conflict heats up after Tuz Khormato incidents

Factions in Iraq seem more worried about staking claims to territory and power than in fighting the Islamic State, and the result could be a prolonged civil war.

Turkish soldiers stand guard at a check point on the main road between Mardin and Cizre near the southeastern town of Midyat, Turkey, September 9, 2015. A deteriorating security situation in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast where a ceasefire between government forces and Kurdish insurgents has broken down, will make it difficult to hold an election planned for November, the head of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) said on Wednesday. Turkey's southeast has seen almost daily clashes between mi

Turkey sticks its neck out again, this time in Iraq

Ankara’s unusually loud public acknowledgement of sending reinforcement soldiers into Iraq shows Turkey hopes to establish its own territory there.

People participate in a pro-refugee protest organized by Americans for Refugees and Immigrants in Seattle, Washington November 28, 2015. REUTERS/Jason Redmond - RTX1WAIZ

Congress focuses on Islamic State threat from Europe

A look at the Middle East issues Congress will be addressing the week of Dec. 7.

An Iraqi soldier stands guard near a goldsmith's shop after an attack during a robbery in Baghdad October 17, 2010. At least 12 people died when gunmen swooped down on a row of goldsmiths' shops in a brazen midday robbery in the Iraqi capital on Sunday and ended up in a gunfight with security forces, police and military sources said. REUTERS/Saad Shalash (IRAQ - Tags: CONFLICT MILITARY CRIME LAW IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTXTJ7I

You won’t believe what these Iraqi taxi drivers are using to prevent carjackings

In Iraq, organized crime is proliferating in light of lax security measures, a fragile political situation and control by the Islamic State of large swaths of territory.

Stepping back 1,300 years into Iraq's Ukhaidir palace

The historical Fortress of Al-Ukhaidir is collapsing because of natural causes and the Iraqi state’s neglect.

U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter (L) and Joint Chiefs Chairman Marine Corps Gen. Joseph Dunford Jr., testify before a House Armed Services Committee hearing on "U.S. Strategy for Syria and Iraq and its Implications for the Region." in Washington December 1, 2015. REUTERS/Gary Cameron - RTX1WOT9

US threatens to bypass Baghdad, arm Sunnis against IS

Congress and the Obama administration are demanding that Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi do more to combat sectarianism.

Baghdad Jewish cemetery reminds of bygone days

Jewish monuments in Iraq are numerous and make some Iraqis nostalgic for the time when Muslims and Jews were neighbors.

Will natural gas cartel be successful in setting LNG, CNG prices?

Key heads of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum member states gather in Iran to push for new global energy market.